Date of Award

Spring 5-1-2005

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Communication Disorders and Counseling, School, and Educational Psychology

First Advisor

William Barratt

Second Advisor

I. Michael Shuff

Third Advisor

Kevin Snider

Abstract

This study was designed to identify factors that could be used to quantify and measure levels of perceived self-efficacy on the part of college transfer students. Previous research on college student retention as well as data gathered from focus group meetings as part of this project provided background information from which items were derived for inclusion on an instrument designed to measure transfer student academic self-efficacy. Factor analysis of the instrument's 25 items, completed by 159 transfer students at a large Midwestern university yielded a four-factor structure which included Community Integration, General Support Structures, Social Supports, and Academic Skills. A Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated for the entire factor structure and revealed an internal reliability of .82 for the instrument.

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